LIttle Walter Review

["Howard Herrnstadt" <herrnstadt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

    Glenn's Little Walter bio review is right on. I would like to add a few
personal comments.
    From my experience years ago working with active alcoholics in various
detox centers I would say that the description of Walter's decline hits
home. As to the issue of who might have tried to help him, most people just
don't actively intervene in a friend's or loved one's addiction process, or
if they do, the chances for success can be slim. For example, apparently
some people tried to work with bassist Jaco Pastorious, who had a different
set of issues but who also drank self-destructively, but to no eventual
effect. That said, Muddy was a true friend who tried as best he could when
he came upon a crisis, but probably didn't view Walter's drinking as a
treatable DISEASE that Walter could be persuaded to have treated.
    I SAW people decline over their various visits to detox centers, as
Walter did. The head injury controversy is a non-controversy to me. I don't
think it would have taken much, as was alluded to by a doctor's comments
mentioned in the bio, to eventually kill a person with repeated head
injuries. Active alcoholics fall a lot, progressively more as the disease
progresses. Add to that the police beatings, muggings, and a proclivity to
fighting, then "win" or "lose," the internal damage just worsens and
worsens.
    There seems to be a tendency to blame Walter's drinking on his
commercial reverses. Let's look at it this way: alcoholism is a treatable
disease with roots deep in a person's psyche and history. But the person
suffering the disease must commit to treatment and full recovery. This could
be AA or a hospital stay plus extended counseling; only the tiniest minority
go cold turkey alone and stay sober for life. What I saw in the bio was a
man who became isolated socially and remained that way. He didn't have
anyone to kick him in the butt to sober up, and if anyone did try to urge
him to get help, he would have refused. Also, it's a fact that street
alcoholics have a much lower recovery rate than folks with steady jobs,
families, etc. Walter's pattern was much more that of a street person than a
family person.
    Many alcoholics say you have to "hit bottom" to sober up. But some hit
bottom and die.
    All that said, Walter Jacobs was one of the GREAT MUSICIANS of the 20th
century. I always learn and grow when I listen to his recordings and try to
emulate something he did.
Harmonically,
Harmonica Blu
Cleveland, OH
bluxpres@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.HarmonicaBluXpress.com